U.S. visitors with strange last names must be scrutinized closely

In the wake of the Boston marathon bombing, immigrants and tourists alike, especially those whose last names in their passports appear strange should be closely scrutinized before they are authorized to enter the United States.

Why is this so? The federal government wants to ensure that that those who are allowed to visit America will not sow chaos and violence during their stay in the American soil.

The first time the U.S. federal government had tightened screening of individuals entering the United States borders and ports took place after the 9-11 incident which killed at least 3,000 people when terrorists crashed two commercial airliners onto the Twin Towers in New York City.

Could the two bombing suspects planned the bombing a long time ago as part of their mission? Nobody can tell at this point in time. And while the younger suspect is still recuperating and not talking in a Boston hospital, extracting those bits of information that are vital in finding out the bombers' motives in the
bombing would take more time.

Reports said the elder suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who is now dead, may have been influenced by radical Muslim extremists after he went on vacation to visit his parents in Dagestan, Russia, last year. Some of the perceptions that were played up in media reports are that he may have been brainwashed to plot
the bombing of the Boston marathon in America?

At this writing, federal investigators have yet to issue a concrete report as to whether the two suspects may have established links with the radical extremists in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia.

In a CNN interview, Ruslan Tsarni, the suspects' uncle, said that the incident put a great shame to the family. In fact, he had urged his nephew to seek forgiveness from the families of those he and his late harmed.

As this developed, legal issues have cropped up following the failure of the police to read the Miranda Rights of Dzohkar Tsarnaev, 19, when he was arrested at a boat parked in a residential backyard in Watertown, Massachusettes.

In a twist of events, latest media reports said the Public Defender Office has vowed to represent the younger suspect once the Department of Justice (DOJ) has formally filed criminal charges against him in the court of law.

Emerging economies to double population by 2030

Developing countries are urbanizing fast. To meet the challenges that creates, city leaders must move quickly to plan, connect, and finance resilient and
sustainable growth. A new World Bank report provides a framework to help.

Today’s developed countries urbanized mostly gradually, their cities expanding over a period of 100 years or more as jobs shifted from farms to factories.

The pace allowed for trial and error in growth patterns and policies. Developing countries today don’t have that luxury. They’re facing rapid migration that will tilt some populations from less than 20 percent urban today to more than 60 percent in just 30 years.

City leaders must figure out now how they will provide the affordable homes, transportation, jobs, and basic infrastructure and services necessary to support already ballooning urban populations, do so with the least impact on the environment and prepare for increasing vulnerabilities stemming from climate change.

A new World Bank report, Planning, Connecting and Financing-Now: What City Leaders Need to Know, provides a framework for urban growth planning and finance, backed by case studies, to help leaders identify the impediments to urbanization and find the right combinations of policy options that would work politically, technically, and fiscally for their cities and countries. It helps them think through questions such as, What must be done to create jobs and expand basic services? What must be done to improve living conditions in slums and hazard-prone areas? What must be done to manage the city’s physical form?

“City leaders at all levels must start now with careful land use planning that looks well into the future for the sake of their city’s economy, equity, and sustainability. How they prepare for rapid urbanization matters not only to the future of their cities but to global economic progress,” said report author Somik Lall, lead urban economist at the World Bank.

The report’s urban development framework is based on three dimensions:

Planning — charting a course for cities by setting the terms of urbanization, particularly policies for using urban land and expanding basic infrastructure
and public services.

Connecting — making a city’s labor, goods, and services available across the city and to other cities and export markets.

Financing — finding the up-front capital to provide infrastructure and services as urbanization picks up speed.
Planning & Connecting

Of the three, the authors write, planning for land use and basic services is the most critical to cities growing efficiently, cleanly, and inclusively and to avoiding locking in detrimental development patterns.

Once built, urban infrastructure will determine how a city’s land can be used in the future. Aligning land use and infrastructure can also help promote inclusion and manage the formation and growth of slums. In Tunisia, a national upgrading program reduced slum housing from 23 percent in 1975 to 2 percent in 1995 of the overall housing stock. National utilities helped make the program a success through large investments in water and sewer infrastructure that upgraded informal settlements.

Financing

The upfront costs of infrastructure will always be an issue for cities. Building mass transportation, water treatment, and waste management systems far
exceed most cities’ budgets.

To help finance investments in infrastructure, the report details three main tasks for city leaders:

Value and develop the city’s creditworthiness. Creditworthiness can be demonstrated by securing cash flows through user fees and taxes—and, where necessary, by raising revenue through leveraged assets. It is also possible to tap capital markets, either by issuing bonds or by borrowing from specialized financial institutions and intermediaries.

Coordinate public and private finance using clear and consistent rules. With enough assurance that commitments are firm, public-private partnerships can reduce the fiscal burden of infrastructure improvement projects.

Leverage existing assets to develop new ones, linking both to land use planning. Leveraging can include land and property taxes, land sales and leases, charges for impact and development, betterment levies, and tax-increment financing.

Many city governments in developing countries cannot access long-term credit because they lack domestic credit markets and transparency in municipal bond markets. Private investors can help fill the gap, such as through service contracts, management contracts, leases, and privatization. In the long run, though, governments must tap revenues, such as property taxes, or similar levies, and access long-term credit, to fund the maintenance and expansion of public facilities, the authors write.

Urbanization Reviews

The recommendations and case studies in the report are drawn, in part, from a series of urbanization reviews conducted by the World Bank. Included are lesson from reviews in seven countries – Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Korea, and Vietnam – touching on issues including land ownership, housing supplies, transportation costs, and providing basic services.

By fostering a concentration of people and economic activities in small areas with policies that promote inclusion, sustainability, and connections, cities can transform economies, enabling social and economic interactions and creating a vibrant market for ideas that translates into innovations by entrepreneurs and investors. (The World Bank)

Asia-Pacific growth slows down in 2012

 Growth in the East Asia and Pacific region slowed to an estimated 7.5 percent in 2012, from 8.3 percent in 2011, largely due to weak external demand and policy actions in China to contain inflation. Growth in the region, excluding China, slowed less quickly due to robust domestic demand. Economic activity throughout the region accelerated toward the end of the year as global financial markets stabilized and policies in China became more accommodative. Regional GDP growth is projected to pick up to 7.9 percent in 2013 before stabilizing at around 7.5 percent by 2015, with China’s economy expanding at 8.4 percent in 2013, before easing to 7.9 percent by 2015. Ex-China, regional growth is forecast to average 5.9 percent over 2013-2015 on strong domestic demand and intensified global trade flows.

GDP growth in Europe and Central Asia is estimated to have slowed sharply to 3 percent in 2012 from 5.5 percent in 2011 as the region faced significant headwinds, including weak external demand, deleveraging by European banks, summer drought and commodity-price induced inflationary pressures. Growth slowed most in countries with strong economic linkages to the Euro Area, while it was relatively robust in resource-rich economies that have benefited from high commodity prices. GDP growth in the region is projected to rebound to 3.6 percent in 2013 and 4.3 percent by 2015. Medium-term prospects for the region will critically depend on progress in addressing external (large current account deficits) and domestic (large fiscal deficit, unemployment, and inflation) imbalances, lack of competitiveness, and structural constraints.

In the Latin America and the Caribbean region GDP declined to an estimated 3 percent in 2012 (from 4.3 percent in 2011) because of a marked slowdown in domestic demand in some of the largest economies in the region and a weak external environment. Growth in Brazil, the region’s largest economy, expanded only an estimated 0.9 percent in 2012. A more accommodative policy environment, stronger capital flows (notably FDI) and more robust external demand are expected to lift regional growth over 2013-2015 to an average of 3.8 percent. Labor and tax reforms underway in some of the larger economies, and a drive to boost infrastructure investment should help address some of the structural issues that have constrained growth in the region.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa region continues to be affected by political uncertainty and unrest in several countries. Regional GDP is estimated to have grown by 3.8 percent in 2012 (following a 2.4 percent decline in 2011), mostly due to a pickup in Libyan oil output and continued robust expansion in Iraq. Growth among regional oil importers, however, remained sluggish at an estimated 2.5 percent in 2012 (2.4 percent in 2011) due to weak exports and tourism, together with country-specific problems, including a poor harvest in Morocco, fiscal difficulties in Jordan, and continuing uncertainty and weak reserves position in Egypt. Regional GDP growth is projected to slow to 3.4 percent in 2013, rising to 4.3 percent by 2015, assuming an easing of the current uncertainty and domestic unrest, a strengthening of tourism, and a recovery of the region’s exports as global demand continues to firm.

In South Asia, growth weakened to an estimated 5.4 percent in 2012 (7.4 percent in 2011), mainly due to a sharp slowdown in India, where GDP growth (measured at factor cost) is forecast at 5.4 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2013. Weak global demand exacerbated region-specific factors, including subdued investment growth, electricity shortages, policy uncertainties, and a weak monsoon. Regional GDP is projected to grow by 5.7 percent in the 2013 calendar year, and by 6.4 and 6.7 percent in 2014 and 2015, respectively, driven by policy reforms in India, stronger investment activity, normal agricultural production, and improvement in export demand. Growth in India (at factor cost) is projected at 6.4 percent in the 2013 fiscal year, rising to 7.3 percent by 2015.

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust at 4.6 percent in 2012. Excluding South Africa, the region’s largest economy, GDP output expanded 5.8 percent in 2012, with a third of countries in the region growing by at least 6 percent. Robust domestic demand, still high commodity prices, increased export volumes (due to new capacity in the natural resource sector) and steady remittance flows supported growth in 2012. However, the expansion was curtailed by domestic factors, including earlier monetary policy tightening (Kenya and Uganda), protracted labor disputes (South Africa), and political unrest (Mali and Guinea Bissau). The region is projected to grow at its pre-crisis average of 5 percent during 2013-15. (www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook)

Norway tops per capita income; China's GDP at 8.6%

The Economist Intelligence Unit released in its latest survey of the world's GDP growth forecast for 2013 vis-a-vis the countries' per capita income.

In the Asia-Pacific Countries, China is the leader of the pack with a growth forecast of 8.6% for 2013. Due to its large population, however,  its per capita income remains at $6,890. Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) comes second with 6.8%, with a per capita of $3,150.

Others include Uzbekistan--6.7% ($1,920) ; India--6.5%($1,770); Afghanistan--6.5%($668); Indonesia--6.3% ($,3,890); Bangladesh--6.1% ($695); Philippines--6.0% ($2,650); Vietnam--6.0%  ($1,800); Kazakstan--5.1% ($12,210); Thailand--4.7%  ($5,800); Malaysia--4.6% ($11,580); Singapore--4.0% ($53,370); Hong Kong--2.4% ($35,610); Japan--1.2%  ($45,680); South Korea--3.7% ($24,590); Taiwan--3.6% ($22,020); Pakistan--3.3% ($1,410); New Zealand--2.3%  ($33,160); and Australia--3.0% with a per capita pegged at $66,950, the highest in the region so far.

Among the developed countries, Norway has the highest per capita at $100,340, even with a GDP growth forecast of only 2.7% for this year. Switzerland comes  second with $77,340, with a GDP growth forecast of 1.2%. United Arab Emirates is at third place with $56,940, with only a growth forecast of 4.3%.

Denmark's per capit income is $56,280.  Another Scandinavian country, Sweden, with  $55,430; Netherlands, $48,280; United States, $51,525; Canada, $53,160; Finland, $47,740; Austria, $46,960; Belgium, $45,450; Ireland, $45,140;  Germany, $41,600; France, $40,930; and the United Kingdom,  $38,85. #

US-based Chinese scientist files suit vs Nobel Assembly for unfair competition

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7, 2012 --Dr. Rongxiang Xu, the founder of "human body regenerative restoration science" and a renowned life scientist and medical scientist, has filed a lawsuit today against The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, a Swedish corporation, aka, Nobelforsamlingen.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet is a body which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The suit filed in Superior Court of the State of California, Orange County Central Justice Center cites Libel and unfair competition.

Dr. Xu, one of the leading scientists in the world, discovered in 1984 the existence of "regenerative cell" which was confirmed to be keratin-19 positive stem cell after 2000 (US patent 6991813B2), during his study of burn treatments that has benefited 20 million burn victims in 73 countries, claims his good reputation in the community was defamed by a statement published by defendants,

The Nobel Assembly, causing damages to Dr. Xu by their conduct. The suit alleges The Nobel Assembly has been successful in garnering media attention for their Nobel Prize announcements in essentially every major news organizations and publications world-wide, proving they can affect the perception of an individual by misreporting information.

"My main priority for filing this suit was to clarify the Academy's mistaken and misleading statements for the preservation of humanity and future generations, life science research should not desecrate the nature of human life," stated Dr. Xu.
On October 8, 2012, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent," which was covered extensively in the media.

In an abstract published on its website made in conjunction with the selection, The Nobel Assembly described the scientists' discovery. The Nobel Assembly claims that the scientists' discovery "represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of cellular differentiation and of the plasticity of the differentiated state." The abstract goes on to claim that: "[t]ogether, Gurdon and Yamanaka have transformed our understanding of cellular differentiation. They have demonstrated that the usually very stable differentiated state can be unlocked because it harbours a potential for reversion to pluripotency. This discovery has introduced fundamentally new research areas, and offers exciting new opportunities to study disease mechanisms."

Dr. Xu believes, and alleges the Statement made by The Nobel Assembly is false as he was the scientist who made the discovery a decade earlier, therefore defaming his exemplary reputation. The Nobel Assembly states that the scientists who won the Nobel Prize "have transformed our understanding of cellular differentiation" because "[t]hey have demonstrated that the usually very stable differentiated state can be unlocked because it harbours a potential for reversion to pluripotency."

Those scientists did not demonstrate as such. It was ten years earlier that Dr. Xu made that discovery when he was able to explain how his discovery unlocked a somatic cell's potential to revert to pluripotent stem cell in situ.

The Nobel Assembly's use of the word "unlocked" compounds the falsity of the statement because it suggests that the scientists who won the Nobel Prize are harnessing an inherent ability of a somatic cell to revert to its pluripotent state through natural means that do not alter the cells integrity.

If the Nobel Prize scientists' findings consisted of leaving a somatic cell intact and unmodified, such as Dr. Xu's finding, then the Statement would have been true and accurate. However, the Nobel Prize scientists' discovery actually consists of the creation of an altered cell having nothing to do with human body pluripotent stem cell.

The Academy also falsely stated that "[t]his discovery has introduced fundamentally new research areas, and offers exciting new opportunities to study disease mechanisms" which is also inaccurate.

The Statements made by the defendant has tainted and damaged Dr. Xu's achievements in the eyes of the scientific community, business, potential investors and his ability to continue to be selected as a top keynote speaker for several major international conferences.

The Plaintiff is represented by the Ardent Law Group in California, case number: 30-2012-00615804. Please contact Jane Westgate 336.608.4439 or Cheryl Riley 703.683.1798. (PRNewswires/AsiaNet)

Risk of gout attacks

Too much uric acid in the body makes one vulnerable to experience the risk of gout.

Gout is a sickness that occurs with the build up of purines, which are naturally made by the human body. The rest comes from the purines in your diet.

According to medical experts, "if your body produces too much uric acid and your kidneys have difficulty getting rid of it, the uric acid builds up. And this can lead to more gout attacks."

Studies said that to reduce gout attacks, it's important to lower your uric acid to healthy level of less than 6 mg/dL. A pharmaceutical firm that produces medicines for gout sufferers explains that changing your diet may not be enough.

Among the food and drinks that are associated with the risk of gout include: beef, pork, lamb, non-diet soft drinks, beer, liquor, certain shellfish like shrimp, lobster and scallops, certain seafoods like canned tuna, and dark meat fish.

Experts advised gout sufferers to limit alcohol intake and certain foods that are high in purines. " A healthy food may help lower your uric acid by about 1mg/dL. But they warned that diet changes may not be enough to get rid of the build up of high uric acid in the body.

Non-steroid and anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicines and steroids can reduce the immediate swelling and the pain of gout attack, a medical brochure said.

Quality of life improved by cosmetic products

For the first time at a global level, it is now possible to really know how cosmetic products could improve life ! A new measuring tool, BeautyQol, has been specifically developed to scientifically establish that cosmetic products and good physical appearance can improve Quality of Life.

The new study published today in the Archives of Dermatology (JAMA Network - USA) confirms that cosmetic products and good physical appearance significantly improve Quality of Life (QOL). In order to be able to investigate this topic, the authors have developed a new international QOL measuring instrument called "BeautyQol".

This instrument has been tested on 3231 subjects confirming the validity and reliability of the measure in 13 countries in the world representing 16 languages: France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Russia, USA, Brazil, Japan, India (Hindi and Indian English) China and South Africa (Zulu, Sotho and South-African English).

The instrument provides one overall QOL score, as well as five sub-scores according to five key dimensions of QOL: Social life, Self confidence, Mood, Energy and Attractiveness.

Dr Ariel Beresniak, MD, MPH, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Data Mining International said: "The positive impact of cosmetics on self esteem and well-being has been well-known since the Antique period, but this is the first time we are able to scientifically measure this impact on the key dimensions of Quality of Life. This new instrument will allow numerous comparative research according to populations, products and situations".

Pilot application studies have been carried out to assess the impact in QOL of
pigmentary disorders, camouflage products, oily skins, hair colour, make up, etc.
Co-author of the study, Yolaine de Linares, Director of the Department of Social and Innovation Prospective Research, L'Oreal, moderator of the BeautyQol international scientific committee, said: "This research will allow a growing body of evidence about the value of cosmetic products.

This is the reason why the BeautyQol instrument is going to become a gold standard in perceived effectiveness assessment". By measuring how much cosmetic products improve QOL, BeautyQol allows to evaluate how much they also improve general health, according to the World Health Organization definition of health: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".

The BeautyQol instrument is going to be adapted to more countries in order to better assess cultural differences in the use of cosmetic products.

Data Mining International SA is an independent international research agency based in Geneva (Switzerland), specialized in Outcome Research, advanced simulation modelling for decision-making, risk assessment, health technology assessment and business model innovation. (PRNewswire/AsiaNet)

China means cheap

The issue on the impending fiscal cliff that America may experience this year doesn't bode well with domestic consumers.

Try to get inside any Wal-Mart or K-Mart shopping stores and you will witness how the diverse consumers are being taken for a joy ride. This despite calls by some cause-oriented sectors to boycott Chinese-made products that form majority of the display at these shopping stores across America.

But why do American consumers flock to these giant stores to buy cheap goods from China? Has it ever occurred to them that the more they buy Chinese products being sold at these big shopping stores, the more China's economy become much stronger and stable? In short, the more trade imbalance between the two countries will be experienced.

The answer is simple. Chinese products are much cheaper to buy, even though their quality and durability are questionable. To the millions of consumers, it doens't matter anymore. In these trying times, when the value of the dollar is strained and China holds much of America's debt papers, it in only incumbent upon the small and medium-income earners to tighten their belts for a little while.

And this can only be done by spending their money wisely on commodities that are much cheaper to buy. It seems that Wal-Mart's advertisements on television and the print media were effective enough to attract more and more consumers to part with their hard-earned money.

Based on my observation, it appears that most of Wal-Mart's customers are small and medium-income earners. How come Chinese products sell well in a rich continent like North America, especially the United States?

As reported by Frontline of the Public Broadcasting System:

"Early in his company's spectacular expansion, "Mr. Sam," (referred to Sam Walton) as everyone called him, decided to reach across the Pacific and make imports a pillar of Wal-Mart's business model. Forcing his American suppliers to cut costs, stressing sales volume over high margins, and wowing customers by showcasing one super low-priced item in each category -- all hinged on importing to find the cheapest prices."

According to Bob Ortega, author of "In Sam We Trust," Walton himself estimated that imports accounted for nearly 6 percent of Wal-Mart's total sales in 1984.

"But another observer of that period, Frank Yuan, a former Taiwan-based apparel middleman, who dealt with Wal-Mart in the 1980s, puts the number, including indirect imports, at around 40 percent from "day one." Either way, Walton's vision was a harbinger of far vaster global sourcing today," Frontline said.

Toxic waste dumping

The sensitive issue of toxic waste-dumping had again taken center stage when MT Glenn Defense Marine Philippines, Inc., a Singapore-based sub-contractor responsible for the collection of toilet and kitchen wastes of the United States Navy ships, was criticized for allegedly violating the environmental marine laws of the Philippines.

When the name of the United States Navy came into the picture, the immediate reaction of Philippine environmentalists and critics was that the ships that were used to dump those hazardouz wastes had ignored the provisions set forth in the VFA.

As to how this mess had gotten out of hand, the public is yet to find out exactly. But based on the news reports that circulated in the print, broadcast and online media, it appeared that what the sub-contractor did was not in accordance with established environmental laws of the Philippines after the ships belonging to Glenn Defense Marine Philippines purportedly dumped the said toxic wastes into the waters off the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

However, (Ret.) Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Philippines, Inc., disputed the allegations that those toxic wastes came from American ships that took part in the recent joint military exercises in the Philippines.

Mayuga was quoted as saying that reports circulating in the media were not true at all, adding that the multinational company is operating in 27 countries to collect domestic wastes from the toilets and kitchen of US Navy ships that are first treated for safe disposal into the international seas.

The issue was played up after an official of the SBMA reportedly told media the vessels owned by the Glenn Defense Marine Philippines were carrying sewage wastes with high levels of toxicity.

However, Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), had denied this during a live phone interview with ABS-CBN's Headstart anchored by Karen Davila on Tuesday (Manila time).

"Perhaps, I was just misquoted by reporters during an interview," Garcia said. He said he would be meeting with concerned government agencies to discuss matters surrounding the issue at hand.

In the meantime, Adan said that the VFA has no jurisdiction in so far as the toxic-dumping issue is concerned. The VFA official added that this issue is under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in so far as marine violations are concerned.

As this developed, the VFA Commission said the controversy has nothing to do with the agreement between the US government and the Philippines.

The sub-contractor for waste collection and disposals is a private company that will be made liable under the environmental and marine laws of the Philippines should concerned agencies found out that its ships indeed dumped toxic wastes within the country's territorial waters.

 Government officials claimed that the said toxic wastes were dumped 37 miles off the coast of the SBMA, which is already considered international waters.

Influence of Hispanic and Asian voters in American politics

As the impending fiscal cliff stalks the economic future of America, reports are ripe that some GOP conservatives are thinking of supporting an initiative that will open up anew discussions on how to fix the broken immigration system in America.

As to how they were able to think about it is something that may have been the result of the recent presidential election which put the Republican bet to suffer defeat simply because he belittled the voting influences of the millions of Hispanics and Asians across America?

Well, the GOP must felt it as shown by the numbers of states where the concentration of Hispanics and Asians may have obviously that voted for President Obama.

In Southern California alone, many Fil-Am veterans have hailed Obama's reelection as another positive sign that their dream of getting the remaining veterans benefits which they had been waiting for a long time, would be given attention now by the administration.

But, according to them, they would appreciate it very much if President Obama will also act on the "Reunification Program", which will allow their dependents who are left behind in the Philippines, to come over to America to be with them.

Combine these altogether--reunification program plus the approval of a new
comprehensive immigration program that will legalize the stay of the undocumented aliens--could be translated to billions in revenues in processing fees for the federal government.

Unless the GOP will cooperate with the Democrats in so far as the fixing of the broken immigration system is concerned, many Hispanics and Asians across the country, particularly in California, will always be adamant to support any GOP candidates , especially those that are anti-immigration.

In fact, the recent presidential election was a clear test of the patience and influences that the growing Hispanic and Asian communities can do to dictate the course of politics in America.